Week-By-Week

Pregnancy Calendar

Week 16

Your Baby:

Is a little over four inches long and weighs a little over 2.5 ounces. The chocolate bunny that I swiped from my toddler’s Easter basket weighed 3.5 ounces. But considering I shared it with my fetus, I am a good mom AND a responsible eater.

Has fingernails and toenails, all of which will be flesh-tearing talons by the time the baby is born. For serious, pack a teensy nail file in your hospital bag if you’d rather your baby’s first pictures NOT include giant face scratches.

Is covered with fine, downy hair called lanugo. THIS will mostly fall out by birth, so rest assured you will not deliver a giant razor-taloned gorilla baby, or something.

You:

Are leaving the more miserable symptoms behind in the dust, more or less. My gag reflex and appetite remained extremely sensitive until about week 16 last time, and the same held true this time around.

Can feel your rock-hard uterus about three inches below your belly button (especially when you lie on your back). As your baby grows your uterus will continue to inch upwards out of your pelvis. Translation: YOU WON’T HAVE TO PEE SO DAMN MUCH.

May be having very vivid but bizarre dreams. Some will be obviously pregnancy-related (the usual ones involve breastfeeding something other than a human baby or putting an animal or your baby in the oven or microwave to “cook” awhile longer), and others will be just plain weird or upsetting, like your childhood nightmares. They should be interpreted as nothing more than dreams stemming from nerves, hormones and your constant thoughts about the future. (In other words, you aren’t really going to give birth to a turtle with a full set of human teeth.)

Okay, so the Big Thing with this week is that you MIGHT feel your baby move. The range for feeling those first delicate, pitter-pattery movements is something between week 16 and week 20. And it’s different for everybody. Thin women feel it before heavier women. Women who have been pregnant before feel it before women who haven’t.

Except for this thin woman who has been pregnant before and did not feel a blessed THING this week, even though I felt Noah move for the first time (clear as day!) when I was exactly 16 weeks along.

Well, let me sort-of take that back. Two weeks ago, during week 14, I swore I felt some quickening movements. It was in the right spot, over to the left a little, and felt like a few tiny soda bubbles had just popped against my insides. By the time my brain caught on to the sensation, it was long past. A couple days later, while lying quietly on the couch, I felt it again.

I spent a loooong time Googling and checking the books to see if it was AT ALL possible that I really felt what I thought I felt — I mean, quickening is both really easy to miss and yet impossible to forget, once you’ve experienced it — but came up dry. Just the same vague old language about “women who have been pregnant before feel it earlier” but no real examples of how MUCH earlier.

Whatever, I never felt it again and am still waiting for my first pregnancy-book-and-calendar sanctioned movements.

For the first-timers among us, I’m sure you’ve read the descriptions a million times. Little bubbles or flutters or pops or tickles. I guess these words describe it as well as it CAN be described. I used to tap the tips of my fingernails against the underside of Jason’s forearm to try to give him an idea of what I was feeling (bum deal for the partner — being able to feel the kicks from the outside is still a long way off), but it’s more like an impossibly gentle and faint THUMP than a tap. Which is why, I guess, the “bubbles popping” metaphor works the best. The sensations are delicate, like a soap bubble, but there’s just enough force to suggest the dramatic explosion of that little bubble.

With Noah, I found I could feel him move best while lying on my back at first, and then while sitting very quietly at my desk and focusing on my stomach. Drinking a carbonated beverage always seemed to perk him up — I always imagined he could hear it fizzing away in my stomach and would decide to make it a rhythmic duet.

Be patient — you’ll DEFINITELY feel something in the weeks to come, depending on how active your baby is, and

Oh!

There’s MY baby! I totally just felt it! And there it is again! HOLY CRAP! HI SWEET THING! Thanks for being so totally on cue there.

Oh Yeah, THIS: Uh. I completely forget what thing I was going to complain about this week now. Clogged sinuses? The misery of an unmedicated allergy season? WhatEVER. Baby just kicked! Whee!

New This Time Around: Last time I had the AWESOME side effect of not shedding any hair while pregnant. It was weird. My brushes and black sweaters remained hairball free. Of course, it all fell out a few months postpartum but during pregnancy my hair was awesome. Thick and full and I didn’t have to do a THING to it. Ah. So nice. And no such luck this time. I am still shedding full chunks every day and my hair is limp and hangy and blah no matter what I do.

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Zoot

Okay. This kid I’m pregnant with here? Did not finally kick me until about 21 weeks. I mean, NOTHING. I think maybe once or twice I thought MAYBE something. But nothing real until week 21. And even then it was kinda wimpy. I spent the next 8 weeks or so telling everyone, “This kid is just not as active as his brother and sister were.” Because he wasn’t and I wanted people to reassure me that their kid was kinda lazy in the womb as well so I would feel better. BUT NO ONE TOLD ME THAT. Everyone got that… Read more »

Felt my second kid earlier than the first (about 15 weeks), but like Zoot, he was lazy and didn’t move much until the end. Then I swore he was scratching out the insides of my uterus with his tiny baby claws. Honestly…it felt exactly like when they tried to “rough up my membranes” with the first kid. Each time he did it, I nearly clawed my way to the ceiling. Kid came out with gigantic claw-like fingernails, and when he got riled-up, his hands went straight for his face in a way I never have seen any other baby do.… Read more »

I SWEAR that I felt my son for the first time at 14 weeks. Perhaps I just have an abnormally sensitive uterus…? I can’t wait to get pregnant with our second so that I can feel that again. It was so much fun!

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11 years ago

Guest

Darcy

I had an ultrasound at 12 weeks. Baby was moving like CRAZY during the ultrasound (it didn’t like being pushed on). Later that week, I was pushing where he was and I put my husbands hand over the spot and he swears he felt the baby move. Since then every now and then I feel something and I am only 14 weeks.

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5 years ago

Guest

Melinda

Me too!!! At about 13/14 weeks, I felt the tiny bubbles. Took me by surprise. Of course, nothing much since then. The week after that, I had teeny, tiny little drum beats wayyy down low, but I don’t know if that was baby or a muscle twitch.

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4 years ago

Guest

cnanavati

Just wanted to chime in and say there is NO reason any woman should go through allergy season unmedicated, especially if she’s pregnant and is already dealing with the rhninits of the nose thing. My allergist green-lighted Zyrtec with his blessing, along with nasalcrom and albuterol with a pulmacort back-up on especially bad days.
Let me repeat…we are pregnant…we deserve to breathe!

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11 years ago

Guest

Audrey

For the allergies: try taking about 1 tablespoon of LOCAL honey a day. I used to be a Zyrtec/Claritin girl, but I have been doing this for the past three spring/summer allergy seasons and I am amazed! I have rarely had to take allergy medication. It’s something about exposing yourself to the local pollen through the honey and yes, honey is safe for pregnant – and nursing – women. Good luck!

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11 years ago

Guest

Melinda

unless it’s raw, in which case it’s not safe. All the local honey around here is raw. I love it when I’m not pregnant, but I’m being safe for now.

I’m pregnant with my first and SWEAR I felt him moving for the first time at 15 weeks. But everyone, including my own mother and family-practitioner-I-have-birthed-hundreds-of-babies father-in-law, insisted that it was gas and I could not possibly be feeling what I knew I was. Hello? I have been on this planet for a quarter century, I did not suddenly get pregnant and forget what gas feels like, thank you. Now at 27 weeks, the baby is starting to be able to reach my ribs and damn! Not as much fun as the cute little kicks to the belly button.

Just a quick aside about the cutting of the nails while at the hospital.
I was about to whip out my trusty file and clippers because my baby was born with unbelievably long nails and all the nurses jumped down my throat.
There are way too many germs and too much bacteria floating around hospitals to risk any unnecessary cuts on your baby. They told me to keep my baby’s face protected with socks as mittens and wait to clip until I got home.

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11 years ago

Guest

Stephanie

I am 16 weeks right now with my second (first child is also 2 and I live in the DC area as well). I swear I’ve been feeling kicking and moving for maybe 2-3 weeks now. My daughter was so active and kicky that at the 20 week sonogram the doctor actually called out “Wow! Look at her go!”. Maybe my husband’s and my genes combine perfectly to produce champion kickboxers. Can I tell you how much fun it is to be at the stage of people looking at you and wondering “have you been getting fat, or are you… Read more »

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11 years ago

Guest

Sara

So I heard an old wives tale that a baby is born EXACLTY 5 months to the day that you feel them move.. How do you feel about that?? any truth to that????? Just wondering if anyone can match up their days with it..

omg…what great timing! I got the warm fuzzies from “Holy crap! Hi Sweet thing!”. So now my clothes are fuzzy and I need to go to Ann Taylor. Yeah, that’s it.
Congratulations on the fizzing tummy =) Are you starting to feel any better?

Jessica – yes, I can definitely understand the no clippers (I was always too scared to use them)…although I brought a file specifically for baby’s nails and there was no risk of scratching with that dull thing. (That, and few things pissed Noah off more than newborn mittens.)
Either way, though, I honestly found that biting the nails off myself worked best. Heh. Gross, but I swear it works and is totally easiest.

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11 years ago

Guest

psumommy

I felt my first 3 kick at 14 weeks (I KNOW that’s insane, but there was no doubt) so with this one, when I didn’t feel a darn thing until 19 weeks or so, well, I was a little worried. Although I think my midwives thought it was funny because 14 weeks? Really? That’s a little weird. Just wait until I hit my due date and I haven’t gone into labor and I freak…because ALL 3 of my previous children went ON their due dates. ON. A big huge congrats on that perfect little bit of timing! See, your baby… Read more »

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11 years ago

Guest

Michelle

I can’t remember exactly, but I believe I felt my first move around 15 weeks, really moving by the 18th and 20th week. I am pregnant with my second and certain that I began feeling those “pops” at 10 weeks. I don’t recall feeling that with my first, but probably because I didn’t know what I was feeling. At 16 weeks, this one is starting to roll around a lot and feels differently than I remember from my first.

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10 years ago

Guest

aminah

I’m 16 weeks+1 and this week I started noticing my uterus popping out on the right side. I had woken up and there was this lump sticking out and I was like, “huh”? I found it is indeed the uterus and now it pops out all the time, always on the right side only. AND when I’m laying or even sitting down like right now and it’s popped out, I can feel the baby kicking or elbowing or flipping….from the outside! I’m very thin so that may be the reason, but yeah, I can feel it from the outside down… Read more »

I started to feel the baby move a little before I hit 13 weeks and thought I was imagining it. Then I had a scan and got to see and feel the baby kick simutaneously.
It probably helps that I am quite thin (and have lost more weight than I want to think about, needless to say I want my BUM BACK!) and that this is pregnancy #2.

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10 years ago

Guest

Diana

Well, I had a psychotically active child with legs of steel. I felt his first movements at – get this – 13 weeks 2 days! He is 17 months old now and he still has a soccer kick that could break a bone. He was trying to stand up when he was only a few weeks old and he actually broke my water a month early with a well-aimed kick. I’m now 4.5 weeks pregnant with another little one and it will be interesting to see how early I feel this kiddo’s movement. One thing I have to say is… Read more »

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10 years ago

Guest

Lorna

when i had an ultrasound at 13 weeks my doctor actually said ‘i would not be surprised if you start feeling this baby in the next couple of weeks’. it kept using its legs to launch off from one side of the uterus so its head would bang the other side and then slide back down and do it all over again. i felt the baby at 16 weeks… not every day, but every couple of days i would feel it – especially when i had cream of tomato soup. now at 18.5 weeks i feel the baby every day…… Read more »

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10 years ago

Guest

Kelly

YAY! So I’m not crazy to think that I felt him/her move last week (at 15 weeks exactly!) A tiny little bubble-pop twack! Was totally cool, can’t wait for more!

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10 years ago

Guest

violist83

I am pregnant with my first and I completely swear I felt my baby move at exactly 15 weeks. The feeling had been described to me previously and I had been waiting for it. It happened in the middle of symphony rehearsal, but I swear that’s what it was cause I feel it all the time now. Definately an awesome feeling for a first time preggo.

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10 years ago

Guest

Lauren

I’m sure everyone has their share of crazy prego dreams, but I just had to share this one. In my dream, we were finding out the sex of the baby. The ultrasound tech said “Ok, here is the penis…” Oh, yay, we’re having a boy, awesome. Then she continued “…and here is an ovary.” And then she just walked out of the room like it was perfectly normal for my baby to have a penis and an ovary!

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10 years ago

Guest

Della

Yeah, well, I’m posting this way after you (author) will ever read it, but I suppose perhaps someone like me who is enjoying the 0-to-40 much later might appreciate it:
Whenever my little guy decided to get active, I thought it felt similar to when you’re holding a plastic baggy with a goldfish in it, and the goldfish decides to wobble around in the baggy.

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10 years ago

Guest

Rachael

I’m 16 weeks with my first and am overweight – I swear I felt the first movements right around 14 weeks – but only if I laid there and really concentrated on my uterus, and only right before I fell asleep. Lately I’ve felt it during the night when I’m sleeping in a position that apparently the baby doesn’t like – half on my side, half on my tummy – I get these little jabs and wake me up and I realize baby is not happy! I’m excited to feel more than just “bubbles” though I’m sure I’ll regret saying… Read more »

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10 years ago

Guest

Brittany

This is my first and I swore I felt it move at 14 weeks EVERYONE told me it was impossible being my first pregnancy you never feel it until late in the 19th week or the the 20th week well now being 16 and a half weeks last night when i was laying down quietly i started poking lightly at my belly and then shined a light on my belly once i did that i felt a very light but distinguished thump in the right spot, it only happened once but it was the same feeling i had a few… Read more »

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10 years ago

Guest

Sharon

Okay, I totally used the goldfish-in-a-bag analogy with my first pregnancy, and everyone I said it to was like “oh.. ew… really? you’re comparing your baby to a fish?” But it really does feel like that. And I’m so glad to hear it from someone else too!
I’m 16 weeks with my second, and have felt it a few times *I think*, but it may be wishful thinking — I’m, er, significantly heavier than I was with my first, so I guess I might have to wait a while longer to be sure.

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10 years ago

Guest

steph

I am 16 weeks. love going to bed–it’s me and baby time! (hubby hates when I say that) If I lay on my side, I can feel a pinging popping feeling like a goldfish against its bag (I like that one!). I am sooo excited! Especially if this one works after my three miscarriage and one tubal preg disasters.

My doctor told me that most women insist they feel their baby move long before the books tell them its possible… so why aren’t the books catching up. This is my third pregnancy and I know I felt my baby move in what I thought was week 14, it turns out it was week 15, though, as they just changed my due date. Either way, I felt it and my doctor agreed I most likely knew what I was feeling better than the books did. 🙂

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9 years ago

Guest

Dawn

I felt a fluttering feeling in my upper stomach at Week 14. I told my husband that I thought I felt the baby move but he told me it was just gas. But like someone else commented, I’ve experienced that before and knew this was NOT the same feeling. I mostly feel it at night when I’m on the couch watching TV. So, I think Week 14 is totally plausible!

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9 years ago

Guest

Danielle

Glad to read that someone besides me has lost hair during pregnancy – I was so excited to not have to clean hair off of the bathroom floor for over a year (1at pregnancy and couple of months after) last time, that when my hair continued to fall out this time, I actually called the doc and told him that something was wrong ’cause I was still shedding like a dog! 🙂

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9 years ago

Guest

Gaby

I just had my luchal fold scan done last week, and the sonogram tech told me that I had an anterior placenta, so I have another layer between my baby and my muscles and skin. She said it isn’t anything to worry about as long as it isn’t a placenta previa, but she did let me know that it could cause me to not feel any movement until later in the pregnancy. I just wanted to put that out there for any women who might be stressing out as to why they hadn’t felt their little one moving yet.

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9 years ago

Guest

Cara

Just in case some other thin woman reads these comments and starts getting nervous – I’m really small and at 16 weeks I haven’t felt the baby at all. But, my body is sure trying to adapt to this growing baby. I have been so uncomfortable the last few days with the cramps and twinges. And, when I eat even a small meal, my tummy feels so tight I really understand the “I’ve eaten so much I could burst” metaphor.

Is there any difference between baby nail files and regular old adult ones? We got a baby grooming kit that came with fantastic tiny clippers, but no file. And now I’m due in two weeks and must have a file! What to do?

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9 years ago

Guest

Ariel

With my first, I didn’t feel anything until about 19-20wks. The second, I felt at about 16. Number 3, I actually started feeling at 12 1/2 weeks! When I told my midwife about it, she said it wasn’t unheard of, but uncommon, and to keep an eye on it to see if it’s regular. I’m now 16 weeks, and it’s every day or two AT LEAST. This kid completely skipped the “fluttery/bubbles” stage, and went straight to the “kickboxing champ” stage. Thankfully, it’s small enough still that it doesn’t hurt yet, but I’m definitely not looking forward to the last… Read more »

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6 years ago

Guest

Jay

This is my first pregnancy and I felt the baby move at 16 weeks and one day. I just felt a sudden pop and I yelled to my husband OMG the baby kicked. And then I started crying lol It kicked a few more times after that. Now I feel it about every other day. Most amazing feeling in the world!

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5 years ago

Guest

Llama

I felt my baby (number one) move towards the end of week 14, and then at the beginning of week 15. Funnily enough, it moves only when I subject it to something alarming or discomfort (first time was while sitting on the stands during the German GP and the race cars started, the noise was unbearable without earplugs; the second was while I was lugging a heavy suitcase up a flight of stairs – yes, I know I’m not supposed to, but I was going to miss my train and there was nobody around to help and I’ve never been… Read more »

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5 years ago

Guest

Rosastef

I fellt first baby move during salsa classes in week 14. Didn’t tell midwife because I wasn’t sure she’d believe me. Currently in week 15 with #2 and have ben feeling movements for 1-2 weeks (without salsa). Maybe I’ll tell midwife this time around as I am more confident in this whole scenario.

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5 years ago

Guest

Carpe Librarium

So, would it kind of feel like pop-rocks do in your mouth, only in the belly area?

Yes,exactly! Well, except less intense, of course. Pop rocks almost hurt my tongue sometimes, and this doesn’t. Soda bubbles is probably a better way to put it, but Pop rocks was my first thought the first time I felt it.

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4 years ago

Guest

Kaeli

Thank you so so so much for this post specifically. First of all, I have loved all your posts, but this one hit the nail on the head. I am currently week 16 with my THIRD child and yet it’s still amazing to me that I’m still worrying like it’s my first pregnancy. The not feeling baby at all yet part of your post made me feel like I wasn’t losing it after all. With the other two kids, I felt them at 14 weeks (I am thin) so of course by now I’m freaking out. So thank you. The… Read more »

I’m a first time mom and a big fat fattie (not joking, 22/24 pre-preg) and I felt my baby at 14 weeks. (The midwife and a friend who is an NP confirmed this (at least as well as they can without having felt what I felt, obviously.) It’s unusual, but not impossible. I described it as being like pop rocks, but soda bubbles works just as well. It has progressed to little thumps and taps and even rolls, getting stronger and more frequent as time goes by. I am 19 weeks today and feel it every day. (Baby seems to… Read more »

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4 years ago

Guest

Aubrey

Bless you for mentioning allergies! I’m just about to sit in the shower to get my sinus congestion loosened up. I’m definitely going unmedicated, because I’m paranoid about these things; but the honey I will try!.. Raw honey? You know, I’m less worried about raw honey than Zyrtec.

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